Hall Leys Park Clocktower

Known as "The Clocktower" in Hall Leys Park, in the former spa town of Matlock, Derbyshire, this small structure is clearly not a clocktower in the true sense of the word, and visitors might liken it to a large bus shelter with a clock on top. In fact, that is very much what it is because it originated as a shelter for passengers waiting to take the tramway from Crown Square, just outside the park. When the tramway closed in 1927, the shelter was relocated to the park, where it acquired the name "Clocktower" by popular use. Today, very few know of its origin, nor indeed do many know of the historic tramway which, it is claimed, was, at the time it was built, the steepest tramway running on public roads anywhere in the world. This claim might be disputed by the San Francisco Cable Car system. This network was the inspiration for the Matlock Cable Tramway's proposer (and later a tramway director), Job Smith. The tramway was financed by locally born newspaper owner and Liberal MP Sir George Newnes.

 The route was from Crown Square up the steep Bank Road (running on to Rutland Street) to serve the hotels of the Derbyshire spa town along the way. This included Smedley's renowned hydropathic hotel which now houses County Hall of Derbyshire County Council. Services started on 28 March 1893. The tram shelter and clock tower in Crown Square were donated by local magistrate, R. Wildgoose, and opened in late 1899.

Electric tramcars of the time would not work by adhesion up the steep gradient of Bank Road and so the tramway was operated as a cable haul system (similar to that in San Francisco) in the form of a single track with a passing loop to accommodate the narrow street of Bank Road. The only other substantive remains of the tramway are the former depot/engine house at the junction of Rutland Street and Wellington Street. The tramway was never a financial success and in 1924 a loss of £1,120 (equivalent to around £90,000 today) was achieved. The council closed and sold off the line in 1927, relying on motor buses which were, by that time, able to climb the steep gradient up Bank Road.

The clocktower/tram shelter is now set, in a somewhat modified form, in the delightful Hall Leys Park where it provides shelter from rain and shade from the sun and seasonally provides a very attractive base for part of the town's Christmas illuminations.